UK shines for Liberty Global

The UK was the star performer for Liberty Global in the third quarter, generating over 100,000 net subscriber additions, while the Belgian and Swiss markets remained challenging.

In its latest set of results, the company also notes that the previously announced deal to sell its German and certain CEE operations to Vodafone remains on track and is still expected to close in mid-2019.

Looking at its continuing operations, Liberty Global says it gained 28,100 net RGUs in Q3, or only half the 57,400 in the same period last year. While the UK/Ireland performed well (+105,300), both Belgium (-52,900) and Switzerland (-41,500) saw losses. The continued operations in CEE meanwhile gained 17,200 RGUs, compared to a loss of 4,900 in Q3 2017.

Liberty’s next generation platforms added 70,000 subscribers in Q3 and had 6.7 million customers at the end of September, or 78% of its total cable video base, excluding DTH. WiFi Connect box deployments increased by 552,000, ending Q3 with an installed base of nearly 5.6 million, or 61% of broadband subscribers, while mobile subscribers increased by 18,000.

In revenue terms, the total in continuing operations in Q3 amounted to $2,958.1 million, or 1.3% more than a year.

UK/Ireland accounted for $1,667.7 million (+3.6%), while Switzerland saw the biggest year-on-year fall, by 8.1% to $323.3 million.

Net earnings attributable to Liberty’s shareholders in Q3 amounted to $974.1 million, compared to a loss of $804.5 million in the same period last year.

See our exclusive interview in which Unitymedia CEO Winni Rapp comments on the developments in Germany and the merger with Vodafone.